Michigan Rep. Mike Callton visited Portland St. Patrick Catholic School Monday in celebration of March is Reading Month.

For the event, Callton brought along Bill Yoder of Clarksville and a member of his traveling zoo, Milly. Milly is a 10-week-old Syrian brown bear who is living with Yoder before being transferred to a zoo in the Upper Peninsula in May.

Callton read “You’re All My Favorites” by Sam McBratney, a book featuring a Syrian brown bear.

This year, Callton is promoting March is Reading Month with his personal theme of “Bring your imagination to life.” Last year, Callton visited area schools with Yoder and one of his bobcats.

“Last year, we had bobcats come for March is Reading Month. This year, we have Milly the bear. The students don’t know we’re bringing her, but after last year, they probably can guess there’s an animal involved,” Callton said.

Yoder has operated his traveling zoo since 1991, and Milly is his 19th bear. Milly will eventually reach approximately 650 pounds, and eat roughly 70 pounds of food daily, according to Yoder. Now, Milly is bottle-fed and sleeps about 22 hours per day.

“When she was born, she weighed about 8 ounces, so in 10 weeks she’s grown a lot,” Yoder said.

Today, Callton, Yoder and Milly will be visiting students at SS. Peter and Paul Catholic School in Ionia, and last week, entertained Saranac Community Schools students.